Twists and Turns to Get to You
by aperozi
Summary: (Rewrote chap. 2) AU. Quistis, an ordinary woman looking for love but never seem to have any luck finding it. How many obstacles must she go through to find her true love? Seiftis
1. Eye Rolling and the Gym

A/N: This is my first Final Fantasy VIII fanfic. I have played the game before... before meaning three years ago. So I don't really remember what the whole game was about. Anyway's this story is an AU and because of my lack of remembrance about the game, the characters will probably be OOC. I'm not really good at writing or grammar so please don't flame. 

Disclaimer: I don't own the game or the characters. 

Eye Rolling and the Gym 

Well toned arms hard with muscles wrapped around her small waist. Long delicate fingers slowly traced the muscled arm upwards, past his strong jaw, high cheekbones, and glides it into his soft hair. Quistis lets out a soft moan as she felt his silky hair curl around her fingers. She moves closer to get a better look at his face, but as always, it was surrounded by shadows covering his features. She felt more than see who it was that was holding her; loving her gently. Quistis watched as he lifted his fingers softly tracing her lips and she could feel her knees quiver slightly. "This is it," Quistis thought as she stared into the shadow where his eyes were suppose to be. "Quistis," his deep voice echoing around her, "I lo-..." 

"...ts of sunshine today with temperature in the high seventies, winds..." Blue eyes snapped open, "What the...?" Quistis sat up from her bed and glared at her radio alarm clock where the animated voice continued to drone on. "I knew buying this thing was a bad idea." She closed her eyes and let out a loud groan as she fell back onto her pillows, "Just a few more seconds and I would have heard those three little words. Someone up there must really hate me." 

Quistis continued to sulk as she literally slam her alarm to shut off the annoying 'I-must-be-high-to-be-so-peppy-this-early-in-the-morning' voice. Sitting up, Quistis reminisced about her dream and her dream man. She sighed as she realize that thinking about it was ridiculous since it's it was just a dream. A dream that she's been having for a couple of weeks now. It was always the same man making her weak in the knees and the dream was always cut off just when he was about say, "I love you." At least that's what Quistis assume was what he was going to say. 

Rolling out of her king size bed, Quistis stretched out her arms and legs then padded into the kitchen to make her morning coffee before going to the bathroom to take a shower. The warm, almost hot water from the shower head sprayed onto her pale skin, turning it a slight splotchy red. Moving under the water Quistis quickly shampooed and conditioned, rinsing out the bubbles after she was done. Stepping out of the tub, she turned the water off and wrapped a towel around herself. Raising a hand, she wiped the fogged up the mirror as she gaze into her reflection. Young, blond, blue-eyed, fair skin, and single. 'SINGLE', the word rang like soggy milk on a hot summers day in her head. Twenty-five years old and no boyfriend. Quistis was almost desperate enough to join a dating service... almost. She was still clinging on to the fact that she's young and it would be embarrassing for someone of her stature and looks to admit that she was single. 

"I must have some kind of repellent that wards off men because there is no way men would not want to go out with me." Quistis said to herself. "That's right Quistis, keep talking to yourself, that will get you a date." Rolling her eyes Quistis picked up her pyjamas and walked back to her room to change. 

It was Saturday, which meant working out at the fitness center with Selphie. Normally, Quistis didn't have time to workout, but with a little convincing from Selphie stating that it was a great place to meet 'hot, single, buffed' men, Quistis figured it wouldn't kill her to sign up. 

So far, she wasn't having any luck in meeting these 'hot, single, buffed' men Selphie was always going on about. "Mustn't give up hope," Quistis told herself. "I can feel something is about to happen today." 

"Quisty, over here," a high cheery voice yelled from across the gym. Quistis turned her head to see none other than her best friend Selphie running on the treadmill. Well, it was more like half running, half jumping and waving to Quistis at the same time. Quistis watched in amusement as Selphie gave a jump and a wave before tripping and sliding backwards onto the floor. 

Shifting her duffel bag onto her right shoulder, Quistis maneuver through the exercise equipments towards Selphie who was now kneeling on the floor rubbing a sore spot on her behind. 

"You alright, Selphie?" Quistis asked with a hint of laughter in her voice. Getting up from the floor, Selphie turned the treadmill off before flashing Quistis a victory sign and a huge grin. "Of course. I'm always okay." The energetic girl said putting her hands on her hips, "But you are late, Miss. Trepe. I've been waiting forever for you." 

Quistis rolled her eyes at the exaggeration. "Selphie, I'm five minutes late and besides you looked like you were having fun without me," Quistis said tilting her head towards the treadmill. Selphie gave a small pout, "Yeah, but while you weren't here, I took the liberty of observing some guys whom I think would be boyfriend material." Before Quistis could reply, Selphie was already pulling her arm towards the locker room. "Quisty, hurry up and change before they're all gone." Quistis rolled her eyes (she seem to be doing a lot of that today), "Selphie, they're people not food." Selphie gave a small shrug, "Potato, potato- same diff." Quistis let out a chuckle before being pulled into the woman's locker room. Twenty-four years old and still acted like a little kid. 

Inside, Quistis changed into a red tank top and gray sweat pants. Taking her time, Quistis pulled on her sneakers as she watched Selphie bounced from one foot to the other. "Hurry up slowpoke." Quistis pretended she didn't hear that comment and slowly moved her hands to her hair, pulling her long blond hair into a high ponytail. She watched as Selphie rolled her eyes in annoyance crossing her arms over her chest. Quistis knew how much it annoys Selphie to do things slowly since Selphie is such a fast paced person. 

"Quisty, show some stomach and more cleavage," Selphie suddenly said out of the blue. Quistis stopped what she was doing and looked at her outfit. "I don't think that's necessary since I plan to work up a sweat." Selphie scrunched up her nose at the reply. "Who said anything about working up a sweat. You are suppose to be guy-surfing." 

Quistis thought about what Selphie had said. It was a little out of her style to bare so much skin. She looked over at what Selphie was wearing, a hot pink sports bra and light gray track shorts that stopped a little above her thighs. It would take someone- like Selphie who has a lot of confidence and self-esteem to wear something that short. Finally, Quistis pulled her tank top a little lower baring more cleavage. Selphie grinned, "That's the spirit. Now let's go get you some phone numbers." 

Quistis and Selphie was sitting at one of the machine working out their arms when Quistis looked to her right and noticed a tall, dark, and handsome man in a black muscle tee and long navy blue shorts staring at her. Quistis blushed and looked away. After calming her rapidly beating heart, Quistis took a deep breathe and looked back over to the guy who was lifting dumbbells. He gave her a small nod and Quistis gave him a shaky smile and nodded back at him. 

"Hello, Mr. Sexy." Selphie's voice cutting through Quistis' head as she came behind Quistis. Quistis tore her eyes away from the handsome man in black, "Selphie. Quiet or he'll hear you." 

"Too late, he's coming over hear right now Quisty," Selphie exclaimed excitedly. Quistis could feel her palms beginning to sweat and she quickly wiped it on her sweat pants. The man was walking up to her with a smile on his chiseled face. "Hey," he said; his voice deep and smooth. Quistis opened her mouth to reply. 

"Hey," a voice from behind Quistis and Selphie replied. Quistis' eyebrows flurried in confusion and whipped her head around. Standing behind her was a man with dark brown hair and blue eyes doing leg lifts. Quistis turned her head around to the guy standing in front of her and to her surprise saw that he was moving towards the man in back of her. Quistis' face turned a deep red as she realized that the guy hadn't been looking at her, but at the man behind her. 

"Good thing I didn't say anything," Quistis thought, "It would have been so embarrassing." She glanced over at Selphie whose green eyes were wide with surprise. "Wow, I guess we made a mistake," she said grinning stupidly. Quistis gave a short laugh and continued with her work out, "Well, I guess something did happen today- just not what I had expected." 

To Be Continued... 


	2. New Neighbor

A/N: I revised this chapter because I wasn't happy with the last one. Not much change, except I added some details. 

Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy VIII or the characters. 

New Neighbor 

Thump, thump 

Bang 

Quistis opened one eye and looked up at the ceiling. More noise reverberated through the ceiling. Quistis groaned, "I don't need this." She turned onto her stomach and buried her face into the pillows. 

Thump 

Quistis' eyes opened, then there was a loud screech and Quistis was wide awake. "Hyne, I'm trying to sleep." As if responding there was suddenly a loud drilling noise. "That's it," Quistis said sitting up. She stood on her bed holding one of her pillows. "Shut up," Quistis yelled upwards throwing the pillow at the ceiling. It was Sunday, the last day of the week before she had to go to work Monday morning. Quistis had hope to sleep in late, her pride and ego still bruised from yesterday's event at the gym. 

After the horrifying scene, which luckily only Selphie had witnessed Quistis pretended nothing happened and continued with her workout. But the two men chatting behind her was a reminder of her embarrassment. Quistis stayed at her spot, face devoid of any emotions. It wasn't as if she actually talked to him, Quistis kept thinking to herself, yet her mind began to form scenarios of what might have happened if Quistis had got up and talked to him. Suddenly, a red tinge began to form on her cheeks before her face became a full blown red. Quistis had ran to the showers, Selphie at her heels, she stayed there for a good half an hour as she composed herself. 

Telling herself and Selphie that she would never step foot in that gym again, Quistis stopped by the nearest ice cream parlor filling herself with whatever calories she just burned off. The rest of the day Selphie dragged Quistis around the city going from shop to shop insisting that shopping would cure everything. Quistis however, wasn't a "shopping" kind of girl, so cutting the day short she just went home and into the comfort of her waiting bed. 

The had drilling stopped. 

Quistis sigh and was about to catch the remaining of her sleep when the sound of a hammer pounded against the walls. "Son-of-a...," Quistis muttered angrily jumping off her bed and running out of her apartment forgetting that she was bare feet and still in her pyjamas. 

Sprinting up the flight of stairs to the next floor, Quistis yanked open the metal door that leads to the hallway. Unfortunately, she pulled a little too hard and the door banged against the wall making Quistis wince. Furniture was scattered through out the hall, making it difficult for Quistis to walk around it. "New neighbors," Quistis thought absentmindedly. "Still they could have waited until the afternoon to move in." 

Moving around chairs, tables, and a king size mattress that was propped diagonally against the opposite walls, Quistis made her way to the door. When she got there, she poked her head inside the open apartment. The large empty space of the living room greeted her. Quistis wondered what her new neighbors would be like, before she remembered the reason why she came up here in the first place. Giving three loud hard knocks against the door, Quistis waited for someone to acknowledge her. Nothing. 

The noise had stopped, but no one came to the door. After some internal debate with herself, Quistis decided to go into the apartment. The layout was exactly like her own apartment, which means that the bedroom should be at the end of the hall. Walking past the open kitchen Quistis turned left into the hallway. The wooden floor suddenly felt cold and dirty against her bare feet, regretting that she had ran out of her apartment without first putting on her shoes. 

Quistis stopped at the entrance to the bedroom, there was no one there except for a medium sized hole that decorated the left side of the wall. Feeling uneasy now that she had trespassed into someone's home, Quistis began to turn around and go back to her own apartment figuring that she should come back later. 

"Who are you?," the sudden addition of someone's voice behind her was not what Quistis had expected. Turning around quickly, Quistis was face to face with a woman who was looking at her with disdain. Her blue-green eyes shifted up and down Quistis' disheveled form. Quistis blushed imagining what she must look like at the moment, no shoes, rumpled clothing, hair not comb (probably sticking every which way), face not yet washed, and worst was that she hadn't even brush her teeth yet! Looking at the woman, her glossy red-brown hair fell in waves around her shoulders, skin slightly tan, make-up applied professionally. Quistis suddenly felt self-conscience about her own image. 

"I'm sorry, my name is Quistis Trepe. I live one floor below you, and I was wondering if you can perhaps lower the noise a little," Quistis finally said. "That's it, be professional," Quistis thought to herself, her face emitting nothing but calm and composure. 

The woman stared at Quistis as if she suddenly grew a second head. "Were we disturbing you?," the woman finally ask haughtily. Quistis refrained from rolling her eyes, "What do you think, I came up here for a tea party? I just said you were making too much noise," Quistis thought to herself. "As a matter of fact-," Quistis began but was interrupted my a noise in the living room. The woman's snobbish expression turned ecstatic and she practically ran to the living room completely ignoring Quistis. Quistis' mouth fell opened in disbelief. "What just happened?" 

Quistis made her way to the living only to stop as she saw the awkward scene in front of her. The woman and a man was making out as if they were the only ones there. They were pressed against each other so hard that they could have molded into one. Quistis cleared her throat but it didn't seem to have any affect. Quistis cleared her throat again, this time loud enough that it echoed through the empty living room. The two "lovebirds" stopped what they were doing and look or glared at Quistis. Quistis cleared her throat again except this time out of the awkwardness. 

The man, his expression as if fixed in a permanent scowl glared at Quistis with cold green eyes, she could almost feel his dangerous aura crushing her. The scar that ran diagonally from near his left eye to the bridge of his nose did nothing to comfort her. He dropped his tool belt on the floor without once removing his eyes from Quistis. 

"Ava, who the fuck is this?," the man demanded looking at his girlfriend. The woman, who's name was apparently Ava pouted playfully, "Oh, someone who lives downstairs. I don't remember her name; Casy or something." Again the woman was completely ignoring Quistis and it was seriously pissing her off, "Hello, I'm not invisible and my name is Quistis." This time it was the woman who glared at her but Quistis countered by ignored her. 

Instead, Quistis turn her attention to the man who was now regarding her with a bored expression. "Look, I just want you guys to lower the noise a little, some of us are still trying to sleep," Quistis said directing it to the man. The man raised an eyebrow and his green eyes looked up and down Quistis form taking in everything from her tangled hair to her shoeless feet and he smirked. 

Quistis bristled as he smirked at her. "Seifer, tell her to go away," the woman said nonchalantly studying her nails. Seifer walked up to Quistis, his frame easily towering over hers. Quistis stood where she was her own blue eyes glaring into his green ones , "So Quisto, you always greet your new neighbors looking like this, I mean where's the casserole?" Quistis narrowed her eyes, "It's Quistis, Seizer." 

Seifer's own eyes narrowed and a glaring contest ensues between the two. Then Seifer's face turned to amusement as he walk back to his girlfriend and puts an arm around her curvy waist. "Sorry Quisto, but I don't think we can lower the noise because in a minute you'll be hearing more than just hammers." 

Quistis' face turned in disgust as she realize what Seifer meant. Without a word she turn, head held high and walk out the apartment, but not before hearing a loud squeal as she once again maneuver her way around the furnitures. "What a disgusting asshole," Quistis thought, "Hope I never run into him or his air head girlfriend." 

Back in her own room, Quistis gave a sigh of relief when she didn't hear any strange noises from upstairs. "Great, not only did I lose sleep but I had to deal with those two idiots. Can my life get any better?" Quistis said to herself sarcastically as she fell back into bed. 

To be continued... 


End file.
